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I drew the "leprosy" portion this week (Tazria-Metzora). Everyone is going to be talking about lashon hara (gossip, approximately), because that's the apparent cause of the affliction (midrash, and one data point in Torah). "Everyone" includes my rabbi tomorrow night (he mentioned it tonight). I'd like to say something Saturday morning that they haven't already heard a zillion times and one of them within the previous 14 hours. I wonder if inspiration will strike. (I suppose there's always the haftarah as a source of material, though we have a fairly strong convention of talking about the Torah portion.)

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Well, the other day when looking for something else I ran across a discussion of materialism as a cause of Leprosy. It's http://www.torah.org/learning/parsha-insights/5758/tazria.html

written by Rabbi Yisroel Ciner (about whom I know nothing save that he "The author teaches at Neveh Tzion in Telzstone (near Yerushalayim)."

The bits that your post reminded me of are:

"According to the Kli Yakar, the three main causes of leprosy were lashon harah (badmouthing others), haughtiness and an overly strong desire for materialism. Each of these causes are alluded to in the name of the different type of leprosy that each brought on. "Adam ki yihyeh v'ohr b'sarow (A man who will have on the skin of his flesh) s'eis o sapachas o ba'heres (s'eis or sapachas or ba'heres)." S'eis - the `raised' blemish - came as a result of a person `raising' himself up and acting in a haughty manner. Sapachas - the secondary blemish - came from an overinvolvement in that which really is secondary in importance. As the Rambam writes, all of a person's acquisitions such as wisdom, strength and uplifted character traits become an integral, inseparable part of the person. The exception to that is wealth. It is totally external to the person. Purely secondary. Baheres - the snow-white spots - are brought on by lashon harah. One who badmouths others causes them to turn white in embarrassment. In each case, the deep, inner decay is brought to the surface, affording the opportunity of correction by bringing a clear awareness of the malady.

[...]One who has an overly strong desire for materialism is forgetting who he truly is and why he is here in this world. He too is attaching too much importance to his physical self and to that which he has.

The leprosy brings these inner decays to the surface and allows them to be healed by literally peeling away all of the external coverings of the person. It first afflicts the person's house. If he doesn't take heed and correct the root cause it moves on to his clothing. Ultimately, it afflicts the skin - the covering of the person himself. See what really is important! Recognize that who you are is not determined by what you have...

We live in a time of prosperity and a great deal of conspicuous consumption. A Point to Ponder while living Life in These United States, or other such similar societies, is that the Torah's leprosy was a gift to help a person maintain perspective. We, who are no longer on the level to have such a direct communication from Hashem, must, using the full uncondensed version of Hashem's holy words, take this parsha of leprosy and apply it to our lives.

and then, this song from The Prince of Egypt came to mind:

A single thread in a tapestry
though its color brightly shines
can never see its purpose
in the pattern of the grand design
and the stone that sits on the very top
of the mountain's mighty face
does it think that it's more important
than the stones that form the base

So how can you see what your life is worth
or where your value lies
you can never see through the eyes of man
you must look at your life
look at your life through heaven's eyes
lai-la-lai...through heaven's eyes(2X)

A lake of gold in the desert sand
is less than a cool fresh spring
and to one lost sheep, a shepard boy
is greater than the richest king
should a man lose everything he owns
has he truly lost his worth
or is it the beginning
of a new and brighter birth

So how do you measure the worth of a man
in wealth or strength or size
in how much he gained or how much he gave
the answer will come to you
to look at his life through heaven's eyes

lai-la-lai...through heaven's eyes(2X)

and that's why we share all we have with you
though there's little to be found
when all you've got is nothing
there's lots to go around
No life can escape being blown about
by the winds of change and chance
and though you never know all the steps
you must learn to join the dance
you must learn to join the dance

lai-la-lai...through heaven's eyes(repeat until fade)

So. Maybe "gossip" isn't the only thing you could talk about?

I cannot quote any authority, I'm afraid, and it is possible that this differs from Judaic view. But it strikes me as interesting that while patches of the affliction are an indication of uncleanliness, begin completely covered by the changed skin is considered clean. This would not match with the idea of inner uncleanliness being brought to surface.

There are a number of items in the law that emphasize being either one or the other, not something in between. I've thought that there could be a parallel there as well.

I cannot quote any authority, I'm afraid, and it is possible that this differs from Judaic view. But it strikes me as interesting that while patches of the affliction are an indication of uncleanliness, begin completely covered by the changed skin is considered clean. This would not match with the idea of inner uncleanliness being brought to surface.

Ohr Somayach, citing Ha'amek Davar (I don't know what this is) and Rabbi S. R. Hirsch (I do know of him :-) ), makes the following interesting point: "The answer is that he is so far from being cured, having ignored all the warnings to do teshuva repentence, that the disease ceases to perform any further purpose. Thus the Torah specifically says not that the Kohen shall declare him pure, rather that 'the affliction is pure' - he, on the other hand, is as far from purity as is possible."

In other words (this is me talking now), the whole point of tazra'at is to get the person's attention so he is forced to mend his ways, but if it gets to the point where he's completely covered, he's so oblivious that he's never going to do that so there is no further purpose in keeping him outside the camp. (Speculation: even a grievously-sinning Jew is still a Jew, and we should at least give him the chance to be influenced by other Jews so maybe he'll learn better in time. Or something. I'm not sure how far I'd want to carry that; there are things for which the sages specify excommunication, after all.)

There are a number of items in the law that emphasize being either one or the other, not something in between. I've thought that there could be a parallel there as well.

Good point.

The same Torah study site has several other articles about this....

http://www.torah.org/learning/rabbiwein/5763/metzora.html
Metzora / Shabbos HaGadol
Not Afflicted, Still Affected (about destructive speech)

http://www.torah.org/learning/drasha/5761/tazria.html
Parshas Tazria-Metzorah
Gold in them Thar Walls
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

More on Materialism and Slander: "Rashi tells us that the first stage of tzora'as -- the home -- is actually a blessing in disguise. Tzora'as on a home can indeed bring fortune to the affected. As the Israelites were approaching the Land of Canaan, the inhabitants, figuring that one day they would re-conquer the land, hid all their gold and silver inside the walls of their homes. When one dislodged the afflicted stones of his home he would find the hidden treasures that were left by the fleeing Canaanites.

"It is troubling. Why should the first warning of tzora'as reek of triumph? What message is Hashem sending to the first offender by rewarding his misdeeds with a cache of gold? What spiritual import is gained from the materialistic discovery? ..."

http://www.torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5760/tazria.html
Tazria
Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann
Getting Beneath the Skin

On slander coming from negativity which comes from self-hate, which is a disease within the self...

Oh, well. I should leave you to your own inspirations. I am, however, grateful for the serendipitous nature of your thoughts, because I learned from looking...

Thanks for all the links! Serendipity is a wonderful thing. :-)

You're welcome! All of this, plus some radio announcements about our water and power situation in California, gave me some other points to ponder.. (well, you'll see ;-) )

One thing I noticed reading the parsha, which I haven't had time to blog about yet, is that the "leprosy on houses" can only happen in Israel. Also, when you take apart a leprous house, the pieces are dumped in a makom tamei -- does that phrase appear anywhere else in the Chumash? (I should just take a concordance to work or something....)

There's a section of Sanhedrin where the leprous house, the stubborn and rebellious son, and the idolatrous city are asserted to have never happened in practice, and the only reason those mitzvot are in the Torah is so we can get the reward for learning about them. (These assertions are all challenged, of course ... this is the Talmud, after all....)

(I should just take a concordance to work or something....)

And I should just buy a concordance. :-) It's an interesting question; if you look it up I'd be interested in hearing where else that phrase appears (if it does).

About the house never having happened: some commentaries argue that you got the house first, then the clothes, and only then the skin affliction; if the house never happened, then neither did any of the rest of it -- ?? Or does that just mean that outside Israel you can have the latter two (just skipping the house, which is the only one Sanhedrin says never happened), but inside Israel none of it happened? I can see that leading to some quasi-mystical arguments about the power of proximity to God's dwelling place...

About the house never having happened: some commentaries argue that you got the house first, then the clothes, and only then the skin affliction

I thought it was the other way around: first skin, then clothes, then house. Maybe I should take a Mikraot Gedolot to work, too....

With a citation only of "midrash" (no specifics given), Rabbi Avi Geller (Aish HaTorah) says that while the three are presented in the order body/clothes/house, they actually occurred in the reverse order. So your first hint was when you had to clean out your house (and potentially tear things down), and if that didn't work your clothes were affected, and if that didn't work then you might have to leave town temporarily. This last is seen as the most severe because it affects you directly.

(Personally, I would think that possibly having to replace your house is a lot more severe than having to replace your clothes. But perhaps housing was just seen as more transient in Torah times, while your clothes were personal possessions. Dunno.)

There was probably lots of mud and straw available.

If my demonstrably shaky memory serves, the leprous-house law only applied to a stone house. So even if you had to tear the whole house down, you could just rebuild it with more rock and mortar. Without such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing, HVAC, etc., this would not take a lot of skilled labor. Clothes, on the other hand, were much much more labor-intensive before the Industrial Revolution. According to this page (I found it on Google, so it must be accurate :-), a typical worker in 3rd-4th century Palestine earned between 0.5 and 2 denarii per day and a cloak cost 12-30 denarii.

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